Resize a photo to passport dimensions
Set a photo to an exact pixel size, whether that is 600×600 for a US passport upload, 35×45 mm for most other countries, or a custom size your form asks for. Runs entirely in your browser.
- Free, no watermark
- No sign-up
- Runs in your browser
How to use it
- Choose your photo.
- Pick a preset size, or type the width and height you need.
- The tool scales the image, keeping the proportions unless you turn that off.
- Download the resized photo.
Nothing is uploaded. This runs on your device, so we never receive your image. Need the whole photo made to spec instead? Use the passport photo maker.
Pixels, print size and dpi are three different things
A photo file carries one measurement: its size in pixels. Print size is physical, and dpi is only the conversion between the two. Pixels = inches × dpi. So 600×600 pixels is 2×2 inches at 300 dpi, and 413×531 pixels is 35×45 mm at that same 300 dpi.
Changing the dpi number on its own does nothing. It is a note in the file header telling a printer how large to lay the pixels down, so a 600×600 file is the same picture at 300 dpi as it is at 72. When a form asks for 300 dpi, what it needs is pixels. Multiply the print size by 300 and resize to that. The tag only matters when you print from a desktop photo app, which uses it to decide how large the image lands on the page.
The sizes portals actually ask for
The US State Department wants a square between 600×600 and 1200×1200 pixels. 600×600 is a floor, not a target, and DS-160 adds a separate 240 KB ceiling on top of the dimensions.
For the 35×45 mm countries there is no single pixel standard, because 35×45 mm is a print size. 413×531 is that shape at 300 dpi. You will also see 350×450, the same shape at 10 pixels per millimetre, or 254 dpi: fine on screen, slightly soft in print. The UK's digital service sets its own floor of 600×750, which is a 4:5 shape, so a file that is genuinely 35:45 has to be at least 600×771.
China is stricter. COVA accepts JPEG at exactly 354×472 pixels, between 40 and 120 KB, and checks it automatically with no human to interpret a near miss.
Enlarging a small photo cannot add detail
Resizing down discards pixels, which is safe. Resizing up invents them. Take a 300×300 photo to 600×600 and every real pixel is spread over four, so the file claims a size it cannot back up. It clears the dimension check, which counts pixels. Then a person looks at it and sees a soft, smeared face.
Small originals arrive through a messaging app, saved from a social profile, or cut out of a group photo where your face was a small part of the frame. Look at the region you mean to keep in the original. If it is already smaller than the size you need, no tool will fix that and the photo has to be taken again. Sharpness has no number attached, so it is judged by eye.
What gets cut off, and what gets squashed
Resizing does not change a photo's shape unless you let it. With proportions kept, asking a 4:3 photo for 600×600 gives you one number and not the other. Turn proportions off and you get both, with a distorted face: a 4:3 photo forced into a square comes out a quarter narrower than it should be. A stretched face is obvious to a reviewer even when the pixel numbers are right.
Crop to the target shape first, then resize to exact pixels. Squaring a portrait phone photo takes the loss off the top and bottom, which is where the space above your head lives. Head height is judged as a share of the frame, so a tight crop can push your head past the maximum without the picture itself changing.
Common questions
What is passport photo size in pixels?
For a US passport photo uploaded online it is between 600×600 and 1200×1200 pixels, square. Printed, it is 2×2 inches. Most other countries use 35×45 mm, which is about 413×531 pixels at 300 dpi.
Will resizing change how my head is positioned?
No — resizing scales the whole picture, it does not re-frame you. Passport rules also set how large your head must be within the frame, and simply resizing will not fix that. Use our passport photo maker if you need the framing corrected too.
Should I resize or compress?
Resize changes the dimensions in pixels; compress changes the file size in KB. If a form complains the image is too large in KB, compress it. If it complains about width and height, resize it. Sometimes you need both — resize first, then compress.
Does resizing lose quality?
Making a photo smaller is nearly lossless. Making it larger cannot invent detail, so it will look softer — always start from the largest original you have.
Is 350×450 the same as 413×531?
Same shape, different resolution. Both are 35×45 mm: 350×450 works out at 10 pixels per millimetre (254 dpi), 413×531 at 300 dpi. The proportions match, so you can go from 413×531 down to 350×450 without re-cropping. Going the other way is enlargement, and it will look softer.
My form asks for a 300 dpi photo. How do I set that?
You do not set dpi, you set pixels. Multiply the print size by 300: 2×2 inches becomes 600×600, and 35×45 mm becomes 413×531. A file at those dimensions is a 300 dpi photo at that print size, whatever number sits in the header.
Can I turn my 600×600 US photo into a 413×531 one?
Not by resizing. A square is not a 35:45 rectangle, so the missing pixels have to come from somewhere. Go back to the original, crop it to 35:45, then resize. Re-cropping moves your head within the frame, which changes whether you meet that country's head-height rule.
How do I know if my original is big enough?
Check the pixel size of the part you will keep, not of the whole file. A typical phone photo is around 4000×3000 pixels and has room to spare. A picture saved from a chat thread is often a few hundred pixels wide, and once you crop to the face there is nothing left.
Can one file cover both the print and the online upload?
For US documents, yes: the same square prints at 2×2 inches and uploads at 600×600. For a Chinese visa, no. The print is 33×48 mm and the COVA upload is 354×472 pixels, which are not the same proportions, so they are two separate crops.